Robert ran as fast as he could through the foot deep snow. The light from his headlamp danced back and forth, cutting an erratic swath of light through the inky blackness. The only sounds were his heavy breathing and the crunch, crunch of his footsteps packing down the snow. A strong wind was blowing in from his right, it was cold. Robert felt the wind trying to force its way through his heavy parka. It was relentless, how in the hell could the girl survive out here in little more than a jumpsuit?? He had to find her.
He tried desperately to keep up with the girl, to follow her tracks before the wind covered up all evidence of where she had gone, but it was near impossible. Damn she was fast. He stared at her strides as he ran, they were long, as if she were jumping instead of running along the top of the snow. There were barely any indentations from where her feet touched the snow. He had to move faster or he’d lose her. But he was old, his body refused He couldn’t go any faster.
And luckily he didn’t have to. Ahead of him came an ear piercing shriek, followed by another and then another. Robert slowed down, but only slightly. He heard another shriek to his right, it was close, too damn close. What the hell was out there?? Still running, he moved his arm behind him and brought forward the rifle that was slung around his back. It was already loaded, thank god. He held it firmly in his left hand and pulled the action back with the right. He pumped his legs, forcing them to move him forward. The wind was blowing stronger now. Even with the headlamp his visibility was little more than five feet in front of him. He looked up, hoping he would see something out there, anything in the blackness, but there was nothing. And when he looked down again his worst fears came true. The tracks were gone.
He stopped, suddenly. Breathing heavy he moved his head back and forth, quickly scanning the ground for any sign of where the girl had gone, but there was nothing. Fuck, where in the hell had she gone?? He heard another shriek behind him and then another to his left. Shit Robert, keep moving.
He took off at a slow jog, the gun moving back in forth in front of him. He knew the girl couldn’t get far in this kind of weather, but where could she go to get out of the wind?? There was nothing out here but an open landscape covered in snow and…oh god, the ship.
Robert picked up his pace, cutting a path through the snow like a warm knife through butter. He felt energized, adrenaline surged through his body giving him strength. That was definitely where she had gone. He looked up ahead of him and saw something shiny in the distance reflect the light from his headlamp. That must be it. He pushed harder, faster through the snow keeping his head focused on the tiny light ahead of him. He was almost there, just a little further. And then suddenly whatever he was looking at started to move. Robert slowed a little, he blinked twice, unsure of what he was seeing. It must be an illusion caused by the snow blasting in front of him. But when he looked again he saw that the light was definitely moving, and fast.
He kept his light trained on whatever was moving out there. Was it the girl?? It couldn’t be, it was too large. He felt a sudden feeling of fear wash over his body. He wasn’t sure why, but something inside of him, some primal instinct was telling him to run, get out of here, NOW!! Robert looked to his right, he saw another object moving quickly across the ground and then another moved across its path in the opposite direction. What the hell was that?? He wanted to get out of here, needed to get out of here.
He started to move, but before he could take two steps he heard an ear-piercing shriek behind him and felt something hit him in the back, hard. He was sent flying through the air and landed face first in a giant snow drift. He flipped himself over quickly and wiped the snow from his goggles. But he couldn’t see anything, snow covered his headlamp blocking the light. Fighting panic he quickly moved a gloved hand to the lamp, wiping the snow away. And when the light came back, that’s when he saw it. A nightmare creature, unlike anything he had ever seen or imagined in his life was standing in front of him, balancing its enormous body on six spider-like legs. Only this was no spider. The body was shiny, and black. The same color as the rock that it was most likely hatched from. Light washed across its body like oil on water. It stared back at him with eyes that were neither human nor insectile. They were small and sank back into its horn covered skull, but they shined with intelligence. Robert unconsciously pushed himself further into the snowdrift, grabbing his gun with shaking hands and held it in front of him.
Robert watched as its giant beak covered in razorblade incisors clicked up and down. It smacked its jaw up and down like a crocodile does when attacking its prey. Robert felt sweat pouring down his back. The creature took a step toward him, a low shrik-shrik-shrik noise emitted from its mouth. He fired his gun without thinking. The blast echoed across the landscape. The creature had been hit, but it kept coming towards him, unfazed. He fired again and again but the bullets riccoched off of the creatures body. He screamed out, “Come on you dirty motherfucker!!” and fired his last shot. When the gun was empty he threw it at the creature and reached for the magnum attached to the belt around his waist. He knew it wouldn’t help, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to die without a fight.
The creature was almost on him, Robert could see trails of frozen drool hanging from its mouth. A tongue, at least two feet long slid back and forth across its teeth. He shuddered, and fired the magnum. It had the same effect as the rifle, the bullets bounced off the creatures body but he felt damn good pulling the trigger. He stopped firing with one bullet left in the chamber. If it came down to it he would use it on himself before he let this thing touch him.
He stood up quickly, holding the magnum in front of him. How in the hell do you kill this thing? He stared at it, it stared back at him with those beady eyes. Robert watched the eyes. Unlike the rest of its scale covered body, there was nothing covering them. That was it then. Robert placed both feet firmly on the ground, holding the magnum in front of him. This was it, he only had one shot left, his aim had to be perfect.
The creature was ten feet away and ready to pounce. Robert could see its body tense, he had to be fast. The creature jumped at him, Robert fired the gun at the same time and jumped to his left. The bullet shot through the air, almost in slow motion. Robert fell to the ground hard and rolled his body over as fast as he could moving into a crouched position. He heard an ear-piercing shriek emit from the creature but it wasn’t the same noise it had made earlier. This was more like a wail. He looked over, a huge grin forming on his face. The creatures body twitched violently on the ground, a white, puss-like substance was pouring out of its eye. One of its taloned legs was scratching desperately at its eye, but it was too late. It’s body twitched a few more times and then the creature lay there, dead.
Robert stood up, amazed at what he had just done. He started to move over to the creature, but heard another shriek behind him and another to his right. Fuck, how many of these things were out there?? It wouldn’t be long before they found him. And he was out of ammo. He cursed himself for wasting what few shots he had, but how could he have known.
He placed the empty magnum back in its holster and pulled the knife out from behind his back. This was it, the only weapon he had left. He stood there, watching three more of the creatures lumbering towards him. He turned his head and there were two more coming from the left. He crouched down, ready to jump on the first one to come near him so he could stab its eye out. He would most definitely die trying, but at least he might be able to take out one more before he went down. He thought about his dead wife and son. About how beautiful they’re life had been before he went down that dark and deadly road. If there was a heaven and they were waiting for him, he knew he would never see them. His path would travel down, to the depths of hell.
Robert started to move toward the first one, to meet it head on, when he heard a loud beeping noise to his right followed by an intense explosion of flame. The shockwave from the blast sent him flying backwards. He looked up in time to see the red hot blast of plasma cover the creatures in front of him. They shrieked uncontrollably as their bodies began to dissolve. He heard another beep and another blast of flame shot out blasting the creatures to his left. He stared, astonished. And then she was there, standing in front of him. The girl he had been searching for. She was screaming something at him, but he couldn’t hear what she was trying to say above the wailing of the creatures. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, he couldn’t understand her. Another creature raced at her from behind and she sent another blast of plasma sailing through the air. It hit the creature in the face. It’s entire head exploded in a mass of white puss and then the rest of the body crashed to the ground.
She turned to him again and held out her hand. He quickly grabbed it and she lifted him off the ground with incredible strength. And then she was gone, running across the snow like a banshee across the desert sands. Her feet gliding lightly across the top of it. Robert pushed through the snow, trying desperately to keep up with her.
Every few feet she would turn around to see if he was still with her, which he always was. She kept the gun moving around her in all directions, waiting for the creatures jump out at them at any moment. But none came, thank god. She must have scared them away for the moment, but they would be back, this he was sure of.
Robert was breathing hard, he didn’t know how much further he could go. He kept his eyes glued to the back of the girl, watching her lithe body move easily across the snow. She was like an apparition, a ghost gliding through the blizzard. He didn’t want to fall. He knew that if he did he would never get back up. And he didn’t want to fail her, she had saved his life. If it came down to it he would place himself in front of one of the creatures in order to save her. He had to stay with her, but he didn’t know if he could.
Black swirls began to swim in front of his eyes, he felt a pain start to build in his chest. It was getting harder to breath, his lungs were burning. He stumbled once and almost fell but felt something strong grab his arm and hold him up. He looked over, it was her. She half dragged, half carried him through the snow. Robert could barely move his legs, he was so tired. Through his frost covered goggles he thought he could see the silver ship shining like a beacon off in the distance, but he wasn’t sure if it was real.
He closed his eyes for half a second, and when he opened them again he was lying on the ground, the silver ship sitting cold and lifeless next to him. He must have blacked out because he didn’t remember getting here.
Looking up, he saw the girl standing on top of her ship, quickly opening the cockpit window. She looked over at him, a concerned look on her face. He winked and gave her a weak smile. She nodded and went back to work on the ship. Robert felt weak, dizzy. He couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. Instead of fighting it, he closed his eyes again and let blackness take him away. When Robert opened his eyes again he found that he was lying on a silver colored floor. A warm breeze was blowing over his body. When he looked up he could see a bright light shining through the window above him. Was it morning already?? He tried lifting his head but an intense pain shot through his body. He felt numb, his legs were extremely sore. Damn, what did he do to himself last night?? He tried lifting himself again and this time he was able to get himself into a sitting position. He looked down at his body, it was stripped of all clothes except for a brown pair of khakis and a white t-shirt. He looked over to a corner filled with silver cables and control panels and saw his clothes laid out neatly to dry.
Looking to his left he saw the back of a large chair, it was covered in a material that resembled black leather. He heard a clicking sound coming from the other side of it. Moving a hand across his stubbled face, he rubbed his eyes and tried to speak, but his throat felt sore, he had a hard time getting any words to form. He tried again and managed to get out a weak “Hello”.
He heard the clicking on the other side of the chair immediately stop. The chair began to turn towards him and he saw the girl sitting there, dressed in a black jumpsuit this time. Her long black hair was tied back in a ponytail. Robert couldn’t help but stare, she looked amazing. He tried to speak again but she held up her hand to stop him, giving a quick smile. She turned her chair back to the console and then spun back towards him again. She was holding a tiny device in the palm of her hand. It was small, resembling a little black bullet. She got out of her chair and walked the few short steps to where he was sitting.
Bending down, she looked at Robert, he noticed her eyes changed from a light shade of purple in the light to a deep violet when she was in darkness. This intrigued him. He wondered what it was she could see with those eyes. And her soft, pale skin turned even whiter when she moved into the shadows. Robert could see tiny blue veins running along her cheekbones up to her temples which throbbed slightly.
She reached down and lightly grabbed his left hand, he didn’t make a move to pull his arm away. She touched his hand, and began to carefully push his fingers back so that his hand was open wide, palm face up. She looked at him again and gave Robert a wink. He watched as she placed the little black bullet in the palm of his hand and almost threw it away when he saw that it started to melt. But he didn’t, he remained calm, the girl still had her hand on his arm, reassuring him. The little blob of black liquid formed itself into a one inch long strand and started to move up the inside of his arm. Robert expected to feel something, at least a tickling sensation, but he felt nothing. The black strand was up to his shoulder now, it crawled its way underneath his shirt, popped its head out from under his color and moved up to his ear. He looked over at the girl, she was still looking at him with a smile on her face.
The black strand was out of his line of site now, but he knew that it must have entered his ear canal because he suddenly felt a very strange sensation wiggle its way through his head. He clenched his hand into a fist and almost pulled his arm away but the girl held fast. She didn’t want him to move. He started to hear a faint buzzing sound in his head that slowly started to grow louder. It was like a swarm of bees quickly coming towards you from a distance. The closer they came, the louder the buzzing became. It was so loud now that it started to hurt his head. He closed his eyes, trying to will away the intensity of the buzzing in his brain but it continued to grow louder and louder. He almost screamed out when suddenly, the buzzing stopped.
Robert opened his eyes, breathing heavily. Sweat bored down his face. He looked over at the girl, she was kneeling in a crouched position with her hands folded across her knees. Robert looked at her, wishing he could ask her what it was she had just done to him when she suddenly did the strangest thing. Opening her mouth, she said something to him and as unbelievable as it was, he could understand it.